ORIGIN  AND  WORK  • 


OP  THE 

AMERICAN 


noiqe  ^odiety 


BT 

Rev.  DAVUD  B.  COE,  D.D.,  Hon.  Secretary. 


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NEW  TOBK: 

THE  AMEEICAN  HOME  MISSIONABY  SOCIETY. 

1887. 


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THE  ORIGIN  AND  WORK 


OF 

The  American  Home  Missionary  Society. 


ITS  PREDECESSORS. 

When  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society  was  organized,  in 
1826,  several  local  organizations  for  home  missionary  work  were  in 
operation,  some  of  which  originated  in  the  last  century.  The  Society 
for  Propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  Indians  and  others  in  North 
America  was  founded  in  1787 ;  the  Missionary  Society  of  Connecticut, 
and  the  Berkshire  and  Columbia  Missionary  Society,  in  1798;  the  Massa¬ 
chusetts  Missionary  Society,  in  1799.  Others  of  a  later  origin  existed 
in  the  other  New  England  States  and  in  New  York.  Some  of  them 
confined  their  operations  within  their  own  geographical  limits.  Others 
sent  missionaries  to  the  destitute  in  the  new  settlements  of  Northern 
New  England  and  the  remoter  wilderness,  even  to  the  banks  of  the 
Mississippi. 

But,  as  these  societies  acted  independently  of  each  other,  and  with¬ 
out  much  knowledge  of  the  comparative  wants  of  different  portions  of 
the  field,  some  sections  were  over-supplied  with  laborers,  and  others 
were  left  in  utter  destitution.  Moreover,  the  laborers  sometimes  came 
into  competition  and  conflict  with  each  other,  and  the  funds  contributed 
for  their  support  were  worse  than  wasted.  It  was  evident  that  a  more 
comprehensive,  economical,  and  effective  system  must  be  devised  to  sup¬ 
ply  the  destitute  portions  of  the  country  with  gospel  ministrations  ; 
but  no  direct  steps  were  taken  toward  the  solution  of  this  problem  till 
1825,  when  the  germ  originated  from  which  the  American  Home  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society  was  evolved. 


ITS  GERM  EVOLVED. 

In  January  of  that  year,  Nathaniel  Bouton  (afterwards  pastor  of  the 
First  Church  in  Concord,  N.  H.)  was  riding  in  a  stage-coach  from 
Andover  to  Newburyport,  Mass.,  in  company  with  several  theological 


A 


students,  when  the  importance  of  enlarged  operations  in  Home  Missions 
became  the  subject  of  conversation,  and  Mi*.  Bouton  suggested  the 
formation  of  a  National  Domestic  Missionary  Society.  The  subject 
was  warmly  discussed  during  their  ride,  and  on  their  homeward  journey, 
and  in  the  evening,  at  Andover,  and  subsequently  in  the  Porter  Khetori- 
cal  Society,  the  Society  of  Inquiry,  and  the  columns  of  tbe  religious 
journals.  It  was  finally  laid  before  a  meeting  of  ministers,  from  several 
States,  who  had  assembled  in  Boston  to  ordain  four  students  from 
Andover  Seminary  for  the  work  of  Home  Missions.  A  larger  meeting, 
composed  of  eminent  ministers  from  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Massa¬ 
chusetts  and  Connecticut,  was  held  in  Boston,  January  11th,  1826,  at 
which  the  action  already  taken  was  approved,  and  a  resolution  adopted 
recommending  that  the  United  Domestic  Missionary  Society  of  New 
York  become  the  American  Domestic  Missionary  Society. 

The  United  Domestic  Missionary  Society  was  formed  in  1822,  by  the 
union  of  two  other  local  societies.  It  was  undenominational  in  its 
principles  and  spirit,  was  enterprising  and  efficient,  and  had  recently  ap¬ 
pointed  as  its  missionaries  four  young  men  from  Andover  Theological 
Seminary.  Its  Executive  Committee  responded  cordially  to  the  over¬ 
ture  from  the  Boston  meeting,  and  issued  a  circular  to  a  large  number 
of  the  friends  of  Home  Missions,  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  in¬ 
viting  them  to  meet  in  the  city  of  New  York  for  the  purpose  of  forming 
an  American  Home  Missionary  Society. 

ITS  ORGANIZATION. 

In  response  to  this  invitation  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  individuals 
assembled  in  convention.  May  10th,  1826,  in  the  session  room  of  the 
Brick  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  city  of  New  York.  They  represented 
thirteen  States  and  four  religious  denominations,  and  were  among  the 
most  prominent  and  influential  ministers  and  laymen  in  those  denomina¬ 
tions.  A  Constitution  was  submitted  to  the  Convention  by  the  Execu¬ 
tive  Committee  of  the  United  Domestic  Missionary  Society,  with  a 
recommendation  that  it  be  made  the  basis  of  the  conten  plated  National 
Society.  This  Constitution  was  amended  and  approved,  and  the  fol¬ 
lowing  resolution  was  adopted : 

“  ResoUed,  Tliat  tbe  Convention,  having  approved  the  proposed  Constitution, 
recommend  to  the  United  Domestic  Missionary  Society  to  adopt  the  same  and 
become  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society.” 

In  compliance  with  this  recommendation  the  United  Domestic  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society,  at  its  Fourth  Anniversary,  May  12th,  1826,  adopted  the 
following  resolution : 

Resolved,  That  the  recommendation  of  the  Convention  be  adopted,  and  the- 


5 


United  Domestic  ]\Iissionaiy  Society  now  become  the  American  Home  Missionary 
; Society  under  the  Constitution  recommended  by  the  Convention.” 

In  pursuance  of  this  action  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society 
proceeded  at  once  to  the  election  of  officers  for  the  ensuing  year,  and 
began  its  work. 


ITS  CONSTITUENCY. 

In  the  Convention  which  organized  the  Society,  and  in  its  first  corps 
of  officers,  the  Congregational,  Presbyterian,  Reformed  Dutch,  and 
«  Associated  Reformed  dene  minations  were  represented.  The  Associate 
Reformed  churches  shared  but  little  either  in  its  labors  or  its  benefac¬ 
tions.  The  Reformed  Dutch  churches  ceased  to  co-operate  with  it 
when  their  own  Board  of  Domestic  Missions  was  organized,  in  1832. 
The  Presbyterian  churches  (New  School)  continued  their  co-operation 
with  it  till  the  General  Assembly  instituted  its  Presbyterian  Committee 
-on  Home  Missions,  in  1861.  Thus  the  American  Home  Missionary 
Society.'  without  any  change  in  its  Constitution  or  principles  of  action, 
became  the  organ  of  Congregational  churches  only ;  and  since  that  time 
it  has  received  from  them,  with  occasional  gifts  from  individuals  in 
other  churches,  its  entire  support.  On  the  withdrawal  of  the  Presby¬ 
terian  churches,  its  income  fell  from  $183,000  to  about  $164,000,  and 
the  number  of  its  missionaries  from  1,062  to  734.  lu  the  twenty-five 
years  that  have  since  elapsed  its  income  has  risen  to  about  half  a  million 
of  dollars  [$524,544.93  in  1885-6],  and  the  number  of  its  missionaries  is 
now  1,571. 


ITS  AUXILIARIES. 

Those  societies  in  New  England  which  had  extended  their  opera¬ 
tions  into  the  new  settlements,  transferred  that  part  of  their  work  to 
the  National  Society,  and  they,  together  with  the  other  New  England 
societies,  entered  into  auxiliary  relations  to  it  which  secured  harmony 
of  feeling,  uniformity  of  method,  and  efficiency  of  action  over  the  entire 
field.  Each  Auxiliary  assumed  the  responsibility  of  conducting  the 
work  within  its  own  bounds,  but  at  the  same  time  co-operated  with  the 
Parent  Society  in  sending  the  gospel  to  the  regions  beyond.  This 
auxiliary  system  has  been  continued  with  the  same  results  to  the  present 
time.  As  the  missionary  societies  of  the  younger  States  have  reached 
the  point  of  self-support,  they  have  assumed  the  relation  of  Auxiliaries 
of  the  National  Society  on  the  terms  stated  in  its  Constitution.  Eleven 
of  them  now  sustain  this  relation,  and  the  period  is  not  distant  when  a 
belt  of  auxiliary  States  will  span  the  continent. 


6 


ITS  OBJECT. 

It  was  the  object  of  the  Society,  according  to  the  terms  of  its  Consti¬ 
tution,  “  to  assist  congregations  that  are  unable  to  support  the  gospel 
ministry,  and  to  send  the  gospel  to  the  destitute  within  the  United 
States.”  It  was  to  supply  the  destitute,  everywhere,  but  especially 
those  in  the  new  settlements  on  the  northern  and  western  frontiers, 
with  the  privileges  of  the  gospel  through  the  ministry  of  the  Word  and 
the  Church  of  God.  It  was  to  keep  alive  the  flame  of  a  pure,  spiritual 
worship,  kindled  by  the  fathers  on  these  eastern  shores,  and  send  forth 
the  messengers  of  the  gospel  to  rear  altars  to  the  Lord,  wherever  the 
foundations  of  civil  society  have  been  laid,  so  fulfilling  the  promise, 
‘•His  dominion  shall  be  from  sea  to  sea.” 


ITS  METHODS. 

The  early  Domestic  Missionary  Societies  sought  to  accomplish  the 
same  object,  through  the  same  instrumentalities,  but  not  by  the  same 
methods.  Most  of  their  missionaries  were  commissioned  for  periods  of 
three  or  six  months,  to  make  missionary  tours  over  large  districts, 
preaching,  conversing  with  families  and  individuals,  ministering  to  the 
sick  and  afflicted,  organizing  churches,  administering  the  sacraments, 
then  passing  on  to  other  fields.  They  were  not  allowed  to  accept  any 
compensation  from  the  people  whom  they  served.  They  received  their 
entire  support  from  the  societies  employing  them.  This  system  was 
necessarily  expensive;  and  under  it  “the  condition  of  the  churches  gen¬ 
erally  grew  less  and  less  promising  with  the  lapse  of  time.” 

The  American  Home  Missionary  Society  does  not  undervalue  such 
itinerant  labors ;  but  it  employs  them  as  preliminary  and  preparatory  to 
its  main  work,  which  is  to  establish  permanent  churches,  provide  them 
with  a  permanent  ministry,  and  thus  nourish  them  to  permanent  self- 
support.  It  enters  into  partnership  with  each  church,  in  sustaining  its 
minister,  stipulating  that  it  shall  bear  its  full  share  of  the  burden — an 
annually  increasing  share,  if  possible — till  it  can  bear  the  whole.  Thus 
the  outlay  of  the  Society  diminishes  as  the  strength  and  efficiency  of  the 
church  increases,  till  it  declares  its  independence,  and  its  name  is  trans¬ 
ferred  from  the  roll  of  the  Society’s  beneficiaries  to  that  of  its  patrons. 
The  stimulating  effect  of  this  system  is  seen  in  the  fact  that,  during  the 
last  ten  years,  more  than  fifty  churches  have  been  annually  brought  to 
self-support ;  and  its  economical  effect  is  seen  in  the  fact  that,  from  the 
beginning,  the  average  expenditure  for  a  year  of  missionary  labor  has. 
been  but  $263.  And  this  expenditure  includes  not  only  the  entire  cost 
of  obtaining,  sending  out,  and  sustaining  the  missionary,  but  the  aver¬ 
age  proportion  of  all  the  expenses  in  conducting  the  institution. 


7 


ITS  EDUCATIONAL  DEPARTMENT. 

In  1880  a  clause  was  inserted  in  the  Constitution,  enabling  it  ‘‘to 
send  the  means  of  Christian  education  to  the  destitute.”  The  experi¬ 
ence  of  the  missionaries,  in  some  parts  of  the  New  West  and  South,  had 
convinced  them  that  some  intellectual  training,  under  Christian  auspices, 
was  essential  to  the  best  success  of  evangelical  effort,  and  should  be  as¬ 
sociated  with  it.  It  was  also  urged  that  such  educational  work,  calling 
for  the  services  of  Christian  women  as  teachers,  would  make  a  powerful 
appeal  to  the  women  of  the  churches  generally,  to  provide  for  the  pe¬ 
cuniary  support  of  their  sisters  who  should  give  themselves  to  this  dis¬ 
tant  and  arduous  service.  Thus  far  a  large  part  of  the  funds  expended 
in  this  Department  has  been  derived  from  that  source.  At  the  urgent 
solicitation  of  the  New  West  Education  Commission,  the  schools  sus¬ 
tained  by  this  Society  in  Utah  and  the  vicinity  have  been  transferred  to 
that  institution,  but  educational  work  is  still  continued  in  Georgia, 
Arkansas,  and  the  Indian  Territory,  on  such  a  scale  as  tke  condition  of 
the  field  requires,  and  the  funds  at  the  disposal  of  the  Society  permit. 

ITS  WOMAN’S  DEPARTMENT. 

The  Christian  women  of  our  churches  have  always  taken  a  warm  in¬ 
terest  in  the  work  of  this  Society,  and  them  gifts  have  constituted  no  in¬ 
considerable  portion  of  its  revenue.  But,  hitherto,  their  organized 
efforts  in  behalf  of  this  cause  have  been  mainly  expended  in  the  prepara¬ 
tion  of  “  missionary  boxes”  for  the  families  of  missionaries.  The  esti¬ 
mated  value  of  such  gifts,  during  the  last  twenty  years,  has  exceeded 
$50,000  annually.  They  have  added  much  to  the  comfort  and  useful¬ 
ness,  but  not  to  the  7iumher,  of  the  laborers  in  the  field ;  and  the  supply 
of  such  donations  now  equals,  and  sometimes  exceeds,  the  demand; 
while  the  Society’s  constant  and  most  pressing  need  is  that  of  money  to 
send  forth  and  sustain  its  missionaries. 

In  the  hope  of  further  developing,  combining,  and  utilizing  the 
efforts  of  women  in  behalf  of  this  cause,  the  Society,  in  1883,  organized 
a  Woman’s  Department,  with  a  Secretary  at  the  Bible  House,  who,  by 
printed  documents,  by  correspondence,  by  conference  at  the  office  of  the 
Society,  and  by  personal  visits  to  the  friends  of  Home  Missions  in  dif¬ 
ferent  parts  of  the  country,  endeavors  to  encourage  and  guide  them  in 
their  work.  A  good  beginning  has  been  made.  Sixteen  State 
Woman’s  H.  M.  Societies  are  now  in  successful  operation,  with  their 
town,  church,  Sunday-school,  and  family  Auxiliaries  sowing  seed  in 
thousands  of  hearts,  to  bear  fruit  in  thousands  of  useful  lives. 

ITS  CHILDREN’S  DEPARTMENT. 

This  quickened  interest  and  organized  action  among  the  women 
have  awakened  a  similar  interest  and  lad  to  corresponding  action  among 


8 


the  children.  Within  a  few  months  fifty  Home  Missionary  Circles  of 
children,  in  ten  States,  have  reported  their  organization  to  the  Society, 
and  have  entered  upon  active  service  in  behalf  of  this  cause.  Many 
other  organizations,  under  various  names,  but  having  the  same  object  in 
view,  are  engaged  in  similar  labors.  The  number  of  these  juvenile  Aux¬ 
iliaries  is  rapidly  increasing ;  and  though  their  work  is  but  just  begun, 
yet,  if  we  take  into  view  the  future  service  for  which  they  are  in  train¬ 
ing,  they  must  be  considered  as  equal  in  importance  to  any  other  of  the 
Society’s  Departments.  In  the  autumn  of  188(3  they  originated  the 
Children’s  Bohemian  Fund,  for  the  support  of  the  Bohemian  Mission 
under  the  superintendence  of  Rev.  H.  A.  Schauffler,  and  they  have 
raised,  in  eight  months,  more  than  $1,500  of  the  $5,000  which  they  pur¬ 
pose  to  secure. 

Several  pages  in  each  monthly  issue  of  The  Home  Missionary  are 
appropriated  to  the  Woman’s  and  Children’s  Departments ;  and  those 
who  co-operate  with  the  Society  through  these  channels,  are  referred  to 
those  pages  for  facts,  arguments,  and  appeals,  which  may  be  of  interest 
and  service  to  them  in  their  work. 


ITS  FOREIGN  DEPARTMENT. 

When  the  Society  was  organized  the  foreign-born  element  in  our 
population  was  very  small,  and  was  increasing  by  the  addition  of  only 
about  10,000  immigrants  annually.  Most  of  these  foreigners  could  be 
reached  with  religious  instruction  in  the  English  language ;  but  for 
those  who  spoke  with  other  tongues,  the  Society  undertook,  very  early, 
to  provide  ministers  of  their  own  nation,  in  order  that  every  one  might 
hear  the  gospel  in  the  language  in  which  he  was  born.  But  they  were 
few  and  widely  dispersed,  and  not  easily  gathered  into  permanent  con¬ 
gregations.  The  laborers  too  were  few.  An  adequate  number  of  edu¬ 
cated  ministers,  thoroughly  evangelical  in  their  views,  could  not  be  ob¬ 
tained. 

In  1853  the  number  of  missionaries  preaching  in  foreign  languages 
had  increased  to  seventy-one.  But  it  afterwards  diminished,  and  the 
average  number  from  that  date  to  1882  was  only  forty.  What  were 
these  among  so  many  ? 

In  that  year  788,992  immigrants  reached  our  shores,  increasing  our 
foreign-born  population  to  more  than  8,000,000;  and  by  adding  the 
children  of  foreign-born  parents  the  number  was  increased  to  more  than 
17,000,000,  or  about  one-third  of  our  whole  white  population.  It  was  in 
view  of  such  facts,  and  the  peril  to  the  country  involved  in  them,  that 
the  Society,  in  1883  resolved  to  make  a  more  distinct  and  systematic 
effort  in  behalf  of  these  foreigners,  particularly  those  who  had  come 
from  Central  and  Northern  Europe  to  our  Western  States. 


9 


Three  superintendents,  each  having  peculiar  qualifications  for  the 
special  duties  assigned  him,  were  appointed  to  take  the  oversight  of 
sepal  ate  departments  of  this  work.  One  resides  at  Cleveland,  O.,  and 
has  charge  of  the  Slavonic  Department.  Another  resides  at  Chicago,  Ill., 
and  has  charge  of  the  German  Departncent.  The  third  resides  at  Min¬ 
neapolis,  Minn.,  and  has  charge  of  the  Scandinavian  Department.  The 
work,  under  their  direction,  has  made  rapid  progress  in  these  four  years ; 
and  the  number  of  missionaries  who  have  preached  in  foreign  languages 
during  the  year  just  closed  is  136. 

The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  obtaining  suitable  laborers  for  this  serv¬ 
ice  continue  ;  but  several  Colleges  and  Theological  Seminaries,  particu¬ 
larly  those  of  the  West,  are  co-operating  heartily  with  the  conduct¬ 
ors  of  the  Society  in  the  endeavor  to  solve  this  problem.  In  some  of 
these  institutions  new  departments  of  instruction  have  been  opened  to 
qualify  young  men  for  this  service.  During  the  last  year  more  than  fifty 
students  in  Chicago  Theological  Seminary  were  preparing  to  preach  the 
gospel  in  the  German  or  Danish  or  Swedish  language  ;  and  if  the  churches 
sustain  these  institutions  in  this  enlargement  of  their  work,  the  most 
formidable  hindrance  in  the  way  of  missionary  effort  among  our  immigrant 
population  will  soon  be  removed. 

ITS  GROWTH  AXD  FRUITS. 

This  Society  has  been  in  operation  sixty-one  years  ;  and  though  it 
has  been  thrice  weakened  by  the  retirement  of  its  partners,  its  friends 
are  permitted  to  rejoice  as  they  contemplate  its  growth  and  fruits.  The 
number  of  its  missionaries  has  increased  from  169  to  1,571,  or  more  than 
half  of  the  Congregational  ministers  in  the  United  States  who  are  en¬ 
gaged  in  pastoral  work.  In  its  first  year  more  than  two-thirds  of  its 
missionaries  were  stationed  in  the  State  of  New  York,  and  only  33  in 
the  Western  States  and  Territories,  where  988  have  been  employed  dur¬ 
ing  the  year  just  closed.  Its  annual  income  has  increased  from  $18,110 
to  about  $500,000,  the  number  of  congregations  statedly  supplied  with 
gospel  ministrations  from  196  to  3,018,  and  the  annual  aggregate  of  labor 
performed  by  its  missionaries  from  110  to  1,117  years.  It  has  collected 
and  expended  in  its  work  $11,596,692,  and  the  aggregate  of  missionary 
labor  performed  under  its  direction  is  40,976  years.  It  has  extended  its 
operations  into  every  State  and  organized  Territory  in  the  Union,  has 
planted  or  aided  about  4,950  churches  and  gathered  into  them  345,973 
members.  More  than  half  of  these  churches  have  already  been  brought 
to  self-support ;  and  many  of  them  are  among  the  largest  and  niiost  in¬ 
fluential  churches  in  the  denominations  to  which  they  belong.  They 
stand  at  the  chief  centers  of  influence  in  nearly  every  State  and  Territo¬ 
ry  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  coast.  They  stand,  and  to  the  end 
of  time  will  stand,  as  monuments  of  the  missionary  toil  and  sacrifice  by 
which  their  foundations  were  laid. 


10 


And  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  Academies,  Colleges  and  Theologi¬ 
cal  Seminaries,  that  have  been  established  in  the  newer  States  and  Ter¬ 
ritories  during  the  last  sixty  years.  Nearly  all  of  those  connected  with 
the  denominations  represented  in  this  Society,  are  indebted  for  their 
existence  and  early  nurture  to  its  missionaries.  In  its  first  year,  one  of 
its  two  missionaries  in  Illinois  was  devising  plans  which  soon  issued  in 
the  establishment  of  Illinois  College  and  Jacksonville  Female  Academy. 
In  the  year  following,  the  first  missionary  who  bore  the  Society’s  com¬ 
mission  in  Southern  Ohio,  was  nursing  an  infant  school,  which  indeed 
was  less  than  all  seeds,  but  when  it  was  grown  it  became  a  tree — two 
trees — Marietta  College  and  Marietta  Female  Seminary.  A  little  later 
one  of  these  missionaries  kneeled  on  the  snow  at  Crawfordsville,  Ind., 
and  dedicated  the  spot  to  God  as  the  site  of  Wabash  College.  Shortly 
afterwards  a  company  of  missionaries  at  Denmark,  la.,  initiated,  discussed, 
and  adopted  plans  which  resulted  in  the  founding  of  Iowa  College. 
Three  years  from  the  date  of  the  first  white  settlement  in  Kansas,  the 
General  Association,  composed  of  three  missionaries  and  the  delegates 
from  three  missionary  churches,  planted  the  germ  of  Washburn  College. 
And  so  of  nearly  all  the  colleges  and  other  higher  seminaries  in  the 
West.  If  some  of  them  were  not,  like  these,  begotten  by  missionaries, 
they  are  the  adopted  children  of  Home  Missions.  Missionaries  were 
their  nnrsing  fathers,  and  missionary  churches  were  their  nursing  moth¬ 
ers.  What  a  work  they  thus  accomplished  for  their  own  generation,  for 
all  generations,  for  their  country,  for  the  world,  for  Christ ! 

By  such  methods  the  missionaries  of  this  Society  who  have  labored 
in  newly  settled  States  and  Territories,  have  taken  a  leading  part  in 
rearing  the  whole  structure,  molding  the  whole  character,  determining  the 
whole  future  of  those  great  commonwealths.  In  their  noble  systems  of 
public  instruction;  in  their  humane  and  reformatory  institutions;  in  the 
Christian  ideas  embodied  in  their  constitutions  and  laws;  in  the  preva¬ 
lence  of  an  elevated  and  healthful  public  sentiment ;  in  the  bulwarks 
erected  against  vice  and  crime;  in  the  growth  of  general  intelligence,  re¬ 
finement  and  taste ;  in  the  whole  fabric  of  society  from  the  foundation  to 
the  top  stone,  we  see  the  handiwork  of  these  wise  master-builders. 

But  while  we  recormt  the  mercies  of  the  Lord  towards  this  Society, 
and  the  great  things  which  he  has  wrought  through  it  in  the  past,  we 
hear  his  voice  reminding  us  that  “  there  eemaixeth  vet  very  much  land 

TO  BE  POSSESSED.” 


